Support from the European Regional Development Fund has enabled municipal waste from the city of Salerno, in Italy’s Campania region, to be processed to higher environmental standards.
As a result of the EUR 25 million project, the organic component of household and industrial rubbish is now filtered through the new processing system, which has the capacity to process 30 000 tonnes a year of organic waste.
The chosen technology also enables energy to be recovered from the wet fraction of organic municipal waste.  This is done by generating electricity from biogas as well as other residues.  Interestingly, the plant is able to generate around 50 % of the energy needed for its own functioning, thanks to a photovoltaic system able to produce up to 515 kilowatts of electricity.  The electricity from the roof-top solar panels is used to provide power for the composting plant and this helps to improve the overall energy consumption of the plant.  In line with industry standards, the new plant – which has been sited next to Salerno’s existing waste treatment plant – produces a high-quality composted green soil improver as one of its bi-products.